Damn those countryside people, mucking up our nice city with their muddy boots. We had planned to visit a few London Open House properties on Sunday, but all the ones we'd hoped to see were closed because of the march.

We did, however, manage to see a few places on Saturday. We started with the magnificent Gothic revivalist Midland Grand Hotel - or St Pancras Chambers. As the hotel closed down in the thirties, it is understandably run-down. But the gloom was relieved by an art installation, Shine - a collection of works using light. Bright silver star-shaped balloons floated up the stairwells. [pics removed to conserve bandwidth]